Why Jelsa-STORIES suck
by Dreamsandimaginations
Summary: My opinion about Jelsa, its fandom and recommendations to make a great Jelsa-fanfic.


**I want to put this off my chest. And to see how many death threats I'm going to get because of the title. Also, if you go straight to the reviews without even reading my little post and being extremely rude to me, I won't even bother to answer your opinion.**

I want to say first and foremost: I like Jelsa. I don't 'love' it. I don't 'adore' it and think its "OMG, they totally belong together, no one else can be any more perfect than those two!". Not at all. I just think that the ship is okay and respect WHY people ship it. I'll return to that last comment later on.

1) Reasons are not similarities.

I'll start off with the reasons that fans give up as for why they ship Jelsa. "Oh they have ice powers, white hair, were isolated during their whole life and they both have sisters for whom they sacrificed so much for!" Uhm… no. You gave the similarities between the characters, not the reasons as for why they should be together. Similarities are NOT the same as REASONS. Imagine a guy (or girl) who looks exactly like you, speaks exactly like you, has had the same experiences like you.. in short, the perfect clone of yourself. Wouldn't that be boring after a while, to agree on everything you say and do with each other? Take Eugene and Rapunzel. What makes their chemistry so great in the movie? Right: their differences. Now I don't say that a good couple SHOULD be completely opposites from one another. But first important step to create great chemistry is to balance out the similarities and the differences. That's what's making a good couple. Don't just show the awesome ice powers. Show the different personalities between Elsa and Jack. Show how Jack can have serious conversations with her and Anna, about their lives and duty as royals. Show how Elsa can have a more playful side to her, making jokes and spend time together with the children of the village.

I see too many times that Elsa immediately loses her usual cool calm behaviour when she sees Jack for the first time, immediately gushing over his abs (which he wouldn't have btw, because he's 14 years old). She's a grown adult, not a hormonic teenager! Or how Jack is so impressed by Elsa's ice magic. Why should he be? He can do it himself, so why act as if he sees it for the first time? He must have encountered countless wizards in his 1000 year old immortal life! This is not character development. This is author wish-fulfilment.

2) Anna, Kristoff and the other Guardians are suddenly gone.

Another problem I need to tackle is the lack of characters that appear in most of Jelsa-fanfics. Barely any time is given to Kristoff, Anna, Sandy, Bunny.. those characters too define Jack and Elsa for what they are, yet they are strangely absent all the way through. If they are present somewhere, they are quickly rushed over to get back to the Jelsa fluff, to gush about how cute Jelsa is, or to poke fun at either of the two saying "you like him/her, don't you?" – "No, I don't!". I get it. You want to focus on Jelsa, but the dynamic isn't just between those two. Their families and friends are affected too about their relationship, either good or bad. And I don't mean plot-wise, like 'Pitch wanting Elsa to get to Jack'-cliché. Or 'Hans and Pitch teaming up against the two" cliché. Or "High school AU of Vampire AU"-clichés. Yes, I say clichés because they are overused in the Jelsa fandom. Try something completely new and don't play it safe. I won't read your story if I can predict the outcome from merely reading the summary. What's the point in reading if I can already guess what's going to happen? But I wander off the subject. By 'friends and enemies being affected by their relationship' I don't mean plot-wise, I mean CHARACTER-wise. To give you an example:

\- The guardians don't like that Jack spends more time with Elsa than his duty with the children.

\- Toothiana is jealous because Jack chose a mortal over her.

\- Anna is distrustful of Jack, thinking that he might use Elsa as Hans did with her.

You may think: "Oh but then I make them totally bitchy and out of character!" Not at all, if you explain their motivations, feelings and thoughts and give enough screentime for those minor characters. When you do it right, you create tension and conflict: the essence of every good story. So please, take genuinely the time to build and expand on every relationship. By doing so, you create not only possible tension as I described before, but also great development in each individual. How would Jack be with Anna? Would they have a sibling-like relationship? If so, who would be more protective out of the two towards one another? How would Sandy think of Elsa? Maybe Elsa becomes a more motherly type for him? Maybe North would be the father figure that Elsa AND Anna lost so early in their lives? Build everything from the ground up on how those characters will interact when they meet and then the plot will write itself.

3) Jelsa is the only, ultimate OTP! Jackunzel and Helsa SUCK!

Till now I have avoided the big elephant in the room, but this needs to be addressed too. I understand you like Jelsa. But is that a reason to hate people who don't? Is that a legimate reason to bully people over this on the internet? You want people to ship Jelsa? Well, let me say to you that they won't because of the bad reputation you give it. You don't give people the chance to explain why they ship Helsa or Jackunzel, well then they won't give you a chance either.

 _4) Conclusion._

I still like Jelsa, but this immature fandom needs to grow up. The majority of the stories are predictable, sappy romances between the two main out-of-character leads with barely any tension or overall plot. If you don't change anything about the here-above mentioned conclusion, Jelsa will soon be associated with that kind of stories. If there are people here who can counter this by recommending great Jelsa-stories with great characterization and awesome plot, I will gladly check them out.


End file.
